Katamari Damacy: The Shocking True Story
by SlashPrower
Summary: A look through different people's eyes as a small town is slowly destroyed by a horrible, otherwordly menace turning people into stars.
1. Shoji's Notes

My name is Shoji. I live in hell.

Oh, it used to be a nice town, I think. People can hardly remember back then. All we can remember is the pain. And the ball. It rolls, inexorable, unstoppable- oh, you can shake a few things off of it, maybe, but it will just leave, pick up small things, grow bigger...then it finds you. And when it does, God help you.

God? There is no God here.

It started off small- little things would disappear, things that nobody would miss- mice, little knicknacks around the house, maybe a crayon or two. Some people said that they saw a little ball with a very tiny green man rolling it going across their living room, but they always laughed nervously and shook it off as just a dream or some sort of odd hallucination. If only they had known.

The people across the street said that their cat was missing one day. It returned shortly afterward, but there was something wrong. Its eyes were glassy, and it became mean- it hissed at anyone who tried to approach it. They assumed it was rabid, and put it down. I think it is buried in their backyard. It's an unmarked, deep grave, so I think that they are safe from any further resurrections.

Then, other animals disappeared, and became mean when they were mysteriously found. Sights of the ball were becoming more common as the green man rolling it grew more bold- it began to roll up our food, our goods. We saw it in the city square- interested and confused, we followed it. It rolled around, picking up everything in its path, until it was the size of a small person.

Then it turned on us. It knocked over a young boy, couldn't have been more than five, knocked him far and left him incapacitated. Then, it picked him up by the legs through some strange magnetic force and continued to roll. But the weight of the ball pushing down on that poor little boy as his little body was crushed against the ground...dear God, his screams were horrible. Every time he hit the street, his screams grew louder. Then, after too long, they stopped. Just...stopped. At that point, he was just unrecognizable viscera on the ball, his blood leaving a red trail.

We ran. We all ran and scattered. It got at least four people, and their screams of agony echoed throughout the entire city. Then, suddenly, it stopped. It stopped, and as we all hid in terror, a great prism of light shot down and picked it up. Families mourned and the entire city was left clueless as to what had attacked us, but at least it was over.

We thought it was over, anyway.

One day, the same people were somehow found unharmed in random places in the city. They were unharmed, but they were also completely mad. They gibbered and laughed and screamed, holding their heads and running around.

"Star!" the little boy yelled. "The star! The King! The King! Long live the King!" He screamed in terror, then began laughing again.

Two minutes later, the ball came down to earth. We all tried to hide, but it scouted us out. Many were taken on that day. And, again, they were restored to us, mad, right before the ball came down to earth again.

It has passed through this city many times. It has rolled through the schools, the buildings, the houses...Many of us are now mad, and the ones who aren't are scared and broken. There is a cult around it, a cult that has been here many years before. The cult claims that the ball is rolled by the Son of the King. All people who are absorbed by the ball are then taken up by the Son to the King, and turned into a flaming star by his infinite power. They will not die, and will be returned, unharmed, to the planet just in time to be rolled up once again by the Son. Those who take a glimpse at the King during this time will become irrevocably mad, as his magnificence is too great for one to behold. We ignored them for many years. After the school was attacked and many children were sent back to their parents completely insane, parents attacked the cult, trying to kill their leader. They were immediately rolled up and returned back here comatose and unresponsive. They stay in one place like statues, sometimes starving to death before the ball rolls them up. The cult claims that for their sins, their souls were forsaken by the great King and destroyed.

I have met the leader, met a little girl called the Messenger, the one who has some sort of connection to the King and is supposed to be able to sense the state of the Universe itself. There is something very wrong about her- she is polite, if not too mature for her age, but something in her gaze that makes one feel as if there is some sort of mad, malevolent creature just behind her eyes. The cult's members have been absorbed by the ball before, but they return with their minds intact. They claim that to be absorbed and turned into a star is an honor, as it burns away one's sins.

We can't leave. I've tried. I walked towards the city limits, ignoring the feeling of terror that was blooming in me. Would the ball come rolling towards me, dropping suddenly from the sky? Would I be trapped in a star forever, never to be restored? A cold wind picked up, blowing back my hair and scaring me even further. But I was determined to leave. I was almost out, almost into the next city...

Then, suddenly, a great hand, a hand belonging to a god himself, appeared suddenly. I fell to the ground, overwhelmed by sheer horror. It remained there for a second, a gloved hand bigger than a building, then disappeared.

I ran. I ran as fast as I could, and from that day forth I have not approached the city limits. I have heard stories, though, of people attempting the same thing I did. Old men tried to leave, then had heart attacks or strokes as the hand suddenly blocked their path. The ball would usually roll up their corpses afterwards, sometimes when they were still warm.

People have described the feeling (when they have enough of a mind left to describe) of being part of a star like being on fire forever and never being able to die. Then, after their minds have been twisted and destroyed by the agony, they are restored here, like some sort of dark miracle. But they never forget the pain, and each day for them is torture as they wait to be rolled up again. I have a safe spot- a little place under my house that I board up. By the time the ball is big enough to roll me up, it can't reach me under there. But there is a cost- it is only big enough to hold me. No one else would fit.

This has kept me safe so far, but not for long. Someday, as the cult fortold, it will roll up the world, tearing up continents, oceans, absorbing all in its path. Then, using the massive power of all that it has taken, it will create the universe anew and destroy us all forever.

That is all anyone wishes for anymore. Not salvation, not freedom- just the quiet peace of eternal oblivion.

Perhaps that would be best.


	2. Maria's Recording

-Recording begins-

H...hello? Is this thing on? I just...oh, God. I just...

Pull it together...pull it together...

My name is M-Maria. I came here to...to...God, I'm so scared. I'm so damn scared. Someone help me, please...

No! I have to calm down. I have to do this. For all of us.

My name is Maria Ingram. I am a reporter. I moved to Japan two years ago, and got a small job at a local news network. It wasn't much, but I hoped to...hoped to move up...

*deep breath*

Anyway, I came down to this town to report the sumo match being held here. That was...how many days ago? 2. Or maybe 3. I forgot I even had this tape recorder with me...maybe...maybe someone will find this and help.

All right. Here's what happened. I came down here with a camera crew to broadcast the match between the yokozuna and a small-time contender. It was to be set near the school. No one expected the contender to win- he was ambitious, sure, very ambitious and determined, but not very strong.

No. Can't speculate right now. I can only say what I know.

After I talked to him, I took a look around the town. It was a strange place. I passed many houses with their windows boarded up, wondering if some sort of disaster had happened recently. More than once I could hear scratching sounds coming from the doors, voices yelling from inside. Only a few walked the streets. Those that did avoided me, looking down at their feet, solemn and scared. It frightened me. One of them, a boy of about 18 or so, saw me walking and stopped me. He hastily introduced himself as Shoji Tachibana.

"Are you from out of town?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm here to see the sumo match."

"Don't go. Just leave while you still can. Please, for your own good. It's dangerous to be here. The contender...he made a deal with..." He stopped suddenly and looked around, as if he was afraid of someone watching him. "Just leave."

"But what-" I tried to ask him what he meant, but by then he was already gone, running somewhere. He knew what was coming. I'm sure of it.

There was a small crowd at the stadium. They were enthusiastic about the match, almost happy. Looking back, I think it was a sort of an escape for them, something almost normal. The yokozuna was from a far-off town, so he couldn't have known anything was too wrong. Neither could my crew. Or me.

I found Shoji after all of it happened. It wasn't hard- he was walking around, quickly assessing the damage. He took pity on me, I think, a woman half-mad with terror. We went to his house. He explained to me what he could. He said that there was some sort of cult in this town, and that he had been following their movements carefully ever since...something. He wouldn't specify. I think it was too horrific for him.

Anyway, he said that he had seen the contender, a man named Mitsuru, enter the cult's building yesterday afternoon. He had not come out. Shoji said that he had gotten close to the door and listened, but had ran when he heard a series of screams. Considering the horrible things that had happened, he said, he suspected that something very bad was going to occur.

When we compiled our information, we concluded that he must have made some sort of deal with the cult. Everybody knew that the cult had an incredible amount of power, Shoji said. Mitsuru must have planned to use this to his advantage. Perhaps he believed that there would be no cost to asking the cult to help him win. Certainly, he couldn't have forseen what the cult had in mind to help him.

Back at the stadium, my crew and I waited for the match to start. The contender was very late. They were about to call a forfeit when everybody heard yelling and screams from farther in the town. Everybody huddled together, scared. I don't know why they didn't hide. They must have known. Shoji said that everybody knew about the "katamari" by then. Not even the yokozuna moved.

My crew and I decided to pick up on the opportunity to report something big. We got into the van and drove around, trying to pinpoint the location of the screams. I was driving, with my cameraman in the passenger's seat.

My cameraman, Kaito, looked out the window. He stared at something in disbelief and shock, then snapped out of it and screamed, "What is that? _What the hell is that!_"

I looked out the window, and I'll never forget what I saw.

It was the contender, but he had become almost unrecognizable. He was rolling on his side, pushed by some unseen force, and he was _huge. _Immeasurably, unnaturally large, bloated grotesquely into a great round shape, almost...almost like a ball. His shadow came closer, casting the can into darkness. I could see...see things on him, things sliding slowly into his skin, being absorbed. I heard the dying screams of men, women, and children, heard the screeching of cats, saw them struggling to pull themselves out of his _skin. _They pushed, trying to get free of the skin that stretched up to swallow them...god...oh, god...I saw a mother and child stuck together, the mother desperately trying to get her screaming, crying son out, then they went under the bottom, and when they were facing us again they were just bloody, crushed bodies being sucked into the monster that had once been a man...

...But over it all, I heard his moaning. He moaned with pain, but there was something else...almost like a sort of ecstasy, as if it hurt but...but he liked it...killing all those people and...and...and absorbing them...

*unintelligible sobbing, a long pause*

I'm...I'm sorry. I'll continue.

He wasn't human any more. Not even close. Whoever Mitsuru had been was destroyed, replaced with some evil, grotesque, omnivorous _thing._

We drove away as fast as we could. Fuck the story. I pushed the van to its limits, barreling around corners, trying desperately to avoid crashing all while keeping away from that abomination. Kaito kept screaming, and I think...I think I was screaming, too.

I almost made it out.

There was a sharp turn near the school. I didn't see it in time. People were running in all directions, and it was a huge mess...I tried to turn, but it was too late and we crashed...Smoke filled the van as we tried to get out. Kaito was stuck...I helped get him out, but by then what had been Mitsuru was very close.

We ran for the school. If we could get inside, we could hide...

...

...Kaito wasn't fast enough. We jumped the fence, tried to get past the sumo ring, but Kaito wasn't fast enough. It got very close to him, and I looked back...and tendrils of skin snared him feet-first and pulled him in. He screamed about how it burned, how it was like acid, he pleaded for me to help him...I couldn't do anything. It was all my fault that he had been caught, and I couldn't do a damn thing.

It almost got me, but then it stopped. It stopped, and even though the force driving it was unseen, one could sense its attention being driven to the yokozuna, who was frozen in fear and staring at the Mitsuru-thing.

Then, it rolled in place, picking up speed at an insane rate. After only a split second, too fast for anyone to react, it flew towards the yokozuna, picking him up instantly.

Then it stopped.

I could still hear Kaito's screams. I could somehow tell that the force driving Mitsuru was listening with rapt attention to something that no human could hear or comprehend, and I knew that it would not move. I found Kaito near the ground, crying, his arm completely shattered by the weight pushing down on him. I tried to pull him out. I really did. But the monster would not let him go. Suddenly, a great light came down, awe-inspiring, shining every known color and even some unknown ones. I fell back, and the monster was carried up by the beam, along with whatever had drove it.

I don't remember much after that. I woke up with Shoji standing over me, asking if I was all right.

I'm at his house now. I want to leave, but he says I can't. He said that I belong to the town now. But he promised that he would do what he could. He'd try to dig more room in the underground compartment, he said. He said that he hoped that he had enough time to make room for me.

He always looks so sad. I can't blame him.

I will take this to the city limits. Shoji told me that nobody can pass, but...maybe this can. I'll try to get it out, and tie this red ribbon to it so it will be more noticeable. But first I'll check every alternative. Maybe the phones work so I can call the news station, or maybe the computers work so I can send this.

I very much doubt that anyone will ever find this. The chances are close to zero. But it's my only hope.

If you find this, please...help us.

-Recording ends-


	3. Akihiko's Story

_Shoji looked down at his hands. "There was someone else staying here a few weeks ago."_

_"Oh?" Marie looked up, straining to see young Shoji in the poor light of his hidden room. Food was running low, and they'd have to risk death in order to get more. _

_"Yes. He was a survivor from the school- one of perhaps three."_

_"The school?"_

_"It was attacked a few weeks ago...maybe a few months. He told me his story..."_

"Hey. Do you hear that?"

Akihiko looked up from his test. One of the students was sranding straight up, head turned towards the door. His eyes were wide with fear, and his nails scratched restlessly against the wood of his desk.

The teacher looked up from his gradebook, clearly not amused. "Sit down and finish the test, Kenji. I won't have you distracting the rest of the class."

Kenji sat down, but his gaze was still fixated on the door. Honestly, his outburst was completely understandable. Akihiko knew as well as everyone else the stories that were told. People hardly went out anymore, and when they did they practically sprinted across the street, desperate to find cover. School had closed for a while, as it was best for everyone to stay scattered- however, there had not been a sighting in a while. Classes had been open for a few days, and everyone had been trying to make everything normal again...at least as normal as things could get. Still, all of them were still on edge, and probably would be for years to come.

A small voice spoke up from the corner of the room. "He's right."

Mutsuo Hoshino stared into nothingness, his eyes as dark and empty as the void of far-off space.

"Shut up, freak!"

"Who said you could talk?"

A rising tide of voices shouted insults at Mutsuo for daring to make his presence known, a cacophony which the teacher's protests could not stop. Mutsuo was the son of the hated Hoshino family, the scapegoats of this entire mess. It was sad, really. He had always been a kind enough kid, at least to Akihiko. His sister, though...Words could not describe the madness lurking behind the young cultist's eyes.

Mutsuo went on, oblivious to the others. His voice sent chills down Akihiko's spine- it was the same dreamy, monotone voice his sister had. "It's coming. He's coming. I feel it. We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight."

The class had fallen completely silent, as if a spell had been cast on all of them. Suddenly, Mutsuo's eyes lost their empty quality and he fell out of his chair, his face a horrible mask of abject horror and awe. He writhed in agony on the floor as if something was destroying him from the inside.

"The Prince! I see him! He's here! The Prince! O God of the stars, whose wrath destroys the soul of man!" He began screaming things in a language that none of them knew, something horribly inhuman and terrible to hear.

"Shut him up!" a student yelled. The entire classroom was now in a panic. Akihiko broke off from them and went to the suffering Mutsuo.

"Hoshino! Snap out of it! Hoshino!"

A scream broke out. One of the students was at the window of the door. "I-it can't..."

Akihiko quickly pushed his way through to look through the window.

He had never seen the katamari firsthand. It had grown, picking up debris from the hallway and other classrooms. Students were running through the hallway, trampling over each other in an attempt to get out. Those who made it to the end of the hallway, however, found themselves on the other end. The being controlling the katamari would not lose its quarry so easily.

The first person it took was a young freshman. Even through the door, Akihiko could hear his screams, cut short by the terrible squishing sound of his head being crushed under the weight.

It picked up speed, taking teachers and students alike. Nothing of the original structure was left- it was all just a bloody pulp, limbs and pieces sticking out like a madman's work of art.

His class was in a panic. "Kill the Hoshino! He brought it here! Kill him and it'll go away!"

"Are you all crazy?" Akihiko moved in front of Mutsuo. "Killing him won't solve anything! We need to-"

He stopped. There was a thump against the door. Through the window, a hand could be seen sticking out obscenely from a mass of destroyed bodies.

It hit the door again, harder this time. Akihiko directed everyone's attention away from the now silent Hoshino boy. "Press up against the door! Don't let it come in!"

His classmates rushed to push against the door, and despite the repeated knocks it was unable to enter. The window cleared, and the sound of a great object rolling could be heard fading off into the distance. Akihiko sighed. "Thank God."

Mutsuo turned his head towards the east wall. "Nothing stops a god," he whispered.

It all happened so fast. The wall bulged outward, then splintered into small pieces which rained painfully down on everyone. The katamari rushed in, the moans and screams of the survivors reaching a fever pitch. Akihiko grabbed Mutsuo and backed up as fast as he could, but there was nowhere to run. The door was blocked. His friends were being consumed by this...thing, and there was nothing he could do. He looked around in a panic.

"Mutsuo! Help me open the window! Quickly!"

The boy regained consciousness for a few precious seconds, and pulled with Akihiko against the stubborn window. Akihiko faintly heard the maddened yells of his teacher.

With a protesting squeal, the window slid open. It was so high up...but there was no time to think.

"Everyone!" He grabbed Mutsuo's hand and jumped out of the window. His legs made a sickening crunch sound as he hit the concrete below. Akihiko screamed in pain, his vision turning red. He could barely see his other classmates heading for the window, preparing to jump...

A disembodied hand appeared in front of the window, covering most of the school's wall.

"No! No! You bastard! You _fucking _bastard, I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" The absurdity of the statement hit him a second after he said it. _Nothing stops a god._

Was Mutsuo right?

The Hoshino boy walked over to Akihiko's broken body, somehow completely unharmed. "You are brave."

"Tell me...Mutsuo...there has to be a way to destroy..."

"I'll get you somewhere safe. Thank you for helping me, but I can't stay around you very long. You'll be in danger now that it's back."

Akihiko looked up into the sky as a great, multicolored light shone down. "Beautiful..."

Everything went dark.

_"I found him outside my front door, legs destroyed. I had to help him get around, but it was nice to have company. His legs had been recovering slowly, and I managed to find him a pair of crutches when I was searching for supplies."_

_"Where is he now?" Maria desperately wanted to see more people- even with Shoji here, the sense of isolation was overwhelming._

_Shoji looked down. "One day he told me he was going to look for Mutsuo Hoshino. I told him not to,but he wouldn't listen and left...I could have caught him easily, but I was afraid. Afraid to go outside. And because of that he's probably a shell like the rest of them." Guilt overcame him and he buried his face in his hands._

_Maria touched his shoulder tentatively. "Don't blame yourself. He probably had to do it. He would have found a way to escape." Her words sounded weak even to her, but they were all the comfort she could give. _

_Shoji did not look up. "But I think...I think Akihiko was on to something. From his story, it sounds like..." He paused for a while, and Maria had to prompt him._

_"Yes?"_

_"The only way to to find out what's going on, to find a way to escape, is to find Mutsuo Hoshino."_


End file.
